一孔录The video for this chapter is still in production. For now this page gives the original text, the facsimile page, a working translation and the commentary; the full reading follows when the video is out.
子曰：禮云禮云，玉帛云乎哉？樂云樂云，鐘鼓云乎哉？The Master said: Ritual, they say, ritual — is it only jade and silk? Music, they say, music — is it only bells and drums?
白Plain Chinese
孔子说，人们口口声声讲礼，难道只是说玉帛，口口声声讲乐，难道只是说钟鼓。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Three Character Classic 10: Music is more than bells and drums. Read this alongside the “eight sounds” (八音).
- Cited by commentatorsDaodejing 38: Emperor Xuanzong explains "Ritual is the thinning of loyalty and trust" (礼者忠信之薄) by citing Confucius: is ritual merely jade and silk?
Relationship map of the whole book · The Analects, AI-reconstructed edition (PDF)
Close reading and checking
For readers who want to go deeper or check our work: key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, textual variants, the commentaries in their own words with facsimile pages, pronunciation and corrections. Tap a heading to open it.
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 九
“此章辨禮樂之本也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 礼乐不止玉帛钟鼓，朱落实本为敬和，杨保留反问；非否定一切仪节器物。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以礼本敬、乐本和，玉帛钟鼓是表达工具，徒具器用不足名礼乐；不以否认外在仪式为孔子之意。 |
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